Oil company needs Gov. Inslee's blessing but spends big opposing him.

The Texas oil company Tesoro has big plans for Washington. Long an operator of a refinery near Anacortes, Tesoro recently unveiled plans for the biggest oil-by-rail facility in the US on the Columbia River at Vancouver. The scheme, which has become a lightning rod in the region, has already run into severe delays and cost increases and the company is scrambling to rebrand its proposal.

Inslee “has every reason to say yes… “I think (the oil terminal) fits into what he wants to accomplish,” said one VP.

That’s a Texas tall tale if we’ve ever heard one. In truth, it would be hard to find any company anywhere with a record more diametrically opposed to Governor Inslee’s agenda.

The fact is that Tesoro has a well-documented track record in Washington of meddling at the ballot box, funneling money to shadowy Republican groups, and financing anticlimate campaigns. In 2010, Tesoro started bankrolling Tim Eyman initiatives to the tune of $90,000. In the last two election cycles, the firm doubled-down on its political activities in the state, spending an additional $577,673 on candidate donations, lobbying, and funding political action committees.

A review of public records shows that Tesoro delivers not only petroleum products, but also a heavy dose of dirty energy money into Evergreen State politics. To better understand how Tesoro cultivates influence in Washington State, let’s follow the money.

Direct Donations

Businesses and individuals often donate to specific candidates and their campaigns. These “direct donations” are recorded and available through the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. These records make it clear that Tesoro gives to a wide range of candidates on both sides of the aisle, but with a noticeable lean toward Republican candidates.

Over the last two election cycles, the firm has contributed $101,600 to 107 Washington political candidates, ranging from longtime state legislators to gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna, who ran against Governor Inslee. The numbers break down like so:

In 2012, Tesoro donated $25,200 to candidates at the state level, with 86 percent of the money going to Republicans.

In 2014, out of $43,900 in total state level donations, Tesoro spent 69 percent of their funding on GOP candidates.

The company also has consistent track records with the state’s federal representatives. One notable recipient is Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen, who hails from Washington’s second district, which is home to the Tesoro Refinery. Yet the majority of Tesoro’s money went to the other side of the aisle. In 2012 Tesoro gave $10,000 to Washington federal delegates with 55 percent going to Republicans. In the 2014 election cycle, Tesoro gave $22,500 with, again, 55 percent going to Republican candidates. Two-thirds of Washington’s federal elected officials belong to the Democratic party.

Tesoro seems to spread its funds far and wide, but their giving does have an identifiable Repubican bent. That slant becomes even more pronounced when we evaluate Tesoro’s other political spending habits.

PAC Money

While direct donations reveal a money trail of direct donor support, there is a highway of dollars that leads to other destinations.

A political action committee, or PAC, pools money from many like-minded contributors into a single source of funding. Tesoro’s direct donations lean Republican, but their PAC funding went entirely to the right side of the aisle.

None of the firm’s PAC giving had any direct connection to the Democratic Party or individual Democratic candidates.

Ballot Initiatives

Tim Eyman, the anti-tax ballot initiative king of Washington, has long enjoyed Tesoro’s largesse. Over the last five years, Tesoro contributed $90,000 to Eyman’s efforts, especially his measures designed to limit the state legislature’s ability to generate new revenue by imposing a “minority rules” provision.

In 2010, for example, Tesoro gave $40,000 to the Citizens for Responsible Spending PAC, which was backing the Initiative 1053 campaign to require a supermajority in both legislative houses in order to raise taxes. (The initiative passed, but was subsequently overturned by the state supreme court.) Also in 2010,Tesoro gave $50,000 to the Voters Want More Choices PAC that also fueled 1053 along with several other Eyman ballot initiative campaigns, including WA I-960, WA-1125, and WA I-1185, which was largely a carbon copy of 1053.

In 2012, Tesoro continued to make mischief at the ballot box by funneling $110,000 through the AWB PAC, which we described above.

Lobbying

Tesoro spends the largest portion of its political funds on “lobbying,” a vague term usually associated with hiring representatives to directly work with legislators on the company’s behalf. But lobbying firms can also be used to secretly funnel funds to projects and politicians that Tesoro hopes to influence.

Since 2012, through local firm Millennia Public Affairs, Tesoro has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars influencing Washington state politics with very little transparency or accountability. (Millennia has a wide range of clients, including TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline.) Here are Tesoro’s lobbying charges in recent years:

Public records show that during recent election years, Tesoro spent significant sums on contributions but cleverly laundered the donations through Millennia in order to making tracking the money’s destination difficult. In fact, during the last election cycle alone, Tesoro shuttled more than $117,000 to politicians this way.

Well, the short answer is that we should prevent them gaining any more ground in the NW.

For the more complete answer, I highly recommend perusing Alan Durning’s excellent series on money in politics and ways we can reform our governance institutions. That series, called “Game Changers,” is here: http://www.sightline.org/projects/game-changers/

“One notable recipient is Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen, who hails from Washington’s second district, which is home to the Tesoro Refinery.”

Ahh, now I understand Larsen’s pro-coal position. Not to mention his abysmal environmental positions. As was stated a couple of election cycles ago, about the best thing you can say about Larsen is that he’s not Koster.

Any chance you could do one of these for Boeing? They manipulated the Governor and State Legislature into giving them yet another huge tax break and then announced their move of many jobs OUT of WA! They’re the main contractor behind the Growler aircraft that are plaguing Whidbey Island and that the Navy wants to sent over the North Olympic Peninsula and establish an electromagnetic warfare training range over the Olympic National Park, Forest, and Dept of Natural Resources lands on the West End. Protect Olympic Peninsula has ongoing chronology of this issue and I have a list of past articles/videos that I could send you.//

And all of this is about WHAT? The refineries have been operating in Washington since the late 50’s. Many of the jobs that are provided are in support industries. Communities are supported by refineries and the military and they contribute huge amounts of $$$ to local economies. What happens to Washington when you finally manage to drive out all the industry and Washington is an economic wasteland?
People in the metro area tend to forget that there is 90% of the state, geographically, that is not involved in their little tech bubble. Get rid of industry and your little kayaking playground implodes. You are more than welcome to buy my property in Skagit County at three times market value so you can have your perfect world. I’m pretty sure that some of my neighbors would sign on for that deal, too.

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